Springfield-based Minorities in Government group in turmoil

Thursday

May 17, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 17, 2007 at 5:02 PM

SPRINGFIELD -- Locks were changed over the weekend on the Springfield building housing the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government, and the group’s executive director, Roy Williams Jr., will not have his contract renewed, IAMG board chair Carol Watson said Wednesday.

Bernard Schoenburg

By BERNARD SCHOENBURG

POLITICAL WRITER

SPRINGFIELD -- Locks were changed over the weekend on the Springfield building housing the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government, and the group’s executive director, Roy Williams Jr., will not have his contract renewed, IAMG board chair Carol Watson said Wednesday.

“We’ve made progress towards addressing and resolving issues, and there is a firm commitment to do so by the majority of board members,” said Watson in a telephone interview. “However, we’re not there yet. There is unfinished business that must be taken care of. We will take the actions necessary to move toward a successful and timely resolution of all issues.”

The organization, which according to its Web site “advocates on behalf of minority employees for jobs, promotions, job retention and protection against discriminatory acts,” is housed at 110 W. Edwards St., across the street from the Illinois State Museum.

The building was locked Wednesday, and a note on the door said it would be closed the week of May 21-25. A call to the organization yielded an answering service.

Watson, who is a senior public service administrator working in mental health with the Illinois Department of Human Services in Chicago, said she became chair of the statewide advocacy group early this year, and “I uncovered mismanagement and misappropriations.”

She said she gave the full board an extensive report with recommendations last month. She said Williams’ contract is up at the end of June or in early July.

The IAMG had a conference last week at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield. She said some board members, herself not included, were at the headquarters building when the locks were changed Saturday. She regrets that action.

She also said she is not sure of the status of three staff members who worked at the headquarters building. She said they were being contacted individually. They might return to work “if they want to,” Watson said.

“A hasty decision was made last week, and I feel very, very badly that the support staff were impacted,” she said.

“My main concern is that they’re treated humanely,” Watson said, “just like we advocate for other(s). … The process was not done properly.”

Ray Coleman, a member of the IAMG board from Fairview Heights and a former Department of Natural Resources worker who is interim director of the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities in East St. Louis, said he believes the board’s recent meetings concerning personnel violated bylaws of the organization.

Watson disputed that claim, saying rules were “absolutely” all followed.

Williams, who took over as executive director of the 1,400-member organization in January 2005, was reached by telephone briefly Wednesday and agreed to discuss the situation with a reporter. However, he did not answer messages left on his telephone later in the day.

Williams had previously been legislative liaison for the Department of Natural Resources.

Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at (217) 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.